In the art of raising chickens, it is the conventional practice for the poultry ranchers to purchase chicks from a hatchery and raise them in a poultry house. Chicks are quite sensitive in their infancy and precautions must be taken to insure their survival during transportation from the hatchery to the poultry ranch.
Since chicks are generally purchased in substantial quantity, arrangements are necessary to transport them in quantities of hundreds or even thousands at a time from the hatchery to the poultry ranch. In transporting quantities of this magnitude, the chicks must be stacked in rather closely confined relationship. The close quarters cause significant losses due to suffocation. Therefore, a requirement in transporting chicks in large numbers is adequate ventilation of the individual chick carriers. Furthermore, it is frequently necessary to check on the condition of the chicks during transit. The inspection should be accomplished with the least amount of disturbance to the chick.
The chicks must be fed shortly after delivery. This is generally accomplished providing feed in a number of feed trays to avoid excessive crowding around an individual feed tray. Accordingly, in the prior art, feed trays have been associated with the chick carriers, and are removable for use as feed trays. A problem with such use has been contamination of the trays by communicable bacteria.
Another aspect of the transport of chicks is the tendency of the group to cannibalize a member that may have been injured. This has been a problem associated with conventional feed trays that often times cause foot injuries to the young chicks. When the other chicks sense that one of their group is wounded, they may descend upon that member and literally cannibalize him.
Another problem associated with chick transporting relates to the fact that the chicks produce substantial droppings within their carriers. Use of degradable substances provides conditions which permit germ breeding. It is highly advantageous to transport the chicks in the most antiseptic conditions possible.
The prior art is characterized by a number of carriers designed to transport chicks in large numbers. All present and prior art carriers, however, are deficient in the one or more of the above mentioned categories in the handling of chicks. One such carrier is comprised of a pair of side-by-side cup shaped containers topped by a flanged lid. This carrier is deficient in that it provides inadequate ventilation for the chicks, there is no provision for the chick droppings, and it is an expensive carrier and cannot be considered disposable.
Yet another device is comprised of a fiberboard compartmentalized, perforated container with a swingable lid. This device is deficient in that there is no provision for dropping disposal, and consequently, the fiberboard is subject to degradation and becomes a germ breeder. Furthermore, there is no separate feed tray provided with this device.
In yet another device, a fiberboard container is laminated with foil on its inner surface. This device, however, does not represent any substantial improvement over the previously mentioned devices, since ventilation is inadequate and there is no provision for dropping disposal.
There are a number of other devices represented in the prior art, and most of them are slight modifications of the previously described embodiments. None of them are particularly effective in providing the optimum carrier which is durable, safe and antispetic. Therefore, there is a need for a poultry carrier that is durable, to permit multiple stacking, clean to avoid germ breeding, carriers its own feed tray that is disposable, and provides adequate ventilation for the chicks during transport.